Missing Parts
by G. Sun
Summary: Mia's left wondering what the hell happened to her and tries to get some answers out of Don, but will he spill the beans? Seth meets his new team member, who gives him a strange feeling, and Don confesses a pitiful backstory that changes Mia's entire view about him. Also a little facts about Mia too! Read after THE MISSING KIN
1. Chapter 1

**And the shorter stories continue.**

"That's it, I give up sleeping," I seize the thin blankets and throw them off me in frustration. I sit up, digging my head into my cold palms. That's the third nightmare I've had in one night and I'm not getting any sleep. The first one I had was a man hammering a nail into my chest repeatedly, the second one was another man much older than the first one standing by the younger man as he dug, with his bare hands, into my body, searching for my heart. The last one wasn't that bad, I was lying on the ground and I couldn't move and there was a man dressed in blue who stabbed himself with a dagger and his pain and suffering gave me the ability to move. But before I could reach the suffering man he disappeared without a trace. Weird dreams like these have been bothering me ever since that incident that happened with Don and the dying man, his friend I think. But something tells me that I walked straight into danger again and didn't handle myself well.

If it had to do with Seth I wouldn't be alive right now, that's for sure. I know he's way better than me and even though it makes me sad to think that my training went to waste, at least I can struggle before he ultimately defeats me in the end. I pace around the creaky bedroom before eventually returning back to bed; a random pang surges in my breast as if it's now oversensitive. I've been sprouting blue hair in more places and have been getting sore breasts even before that strange incident and it's only a matter of time until I start to bleed down there. Since Mom was long dead, I've had to read about these things on my own. I sigh deeply as I slip my legs back under the thin covers and turn off the lamp.

* * *

I used to make fun of the villains on TV with the big, curly mustaches 'cause I thought they looked ridiculous. Karma is getting me back with a few hairs growing out in the mustache area. Subjugating my life into total Darkness hasn't saved me from puberty's cruel hand. Someone knocks on my bedroom door and there are only two people who ever knock on the door, Nate and Xevia. Speaking of which, Nate hasn't been around here lately, he's probably been assigned to wreak havoc in some world for Master. "Who's at the door?"

"It's me Seth!" Xevia joyfully replies.

"What is it?"

"Master wanted me to come get you the meeting room. He wants to have a talk."

"With me? Why?" does he know that I have Shadow's Kiss and he wants to punish me for it? I meant to put it back in his room but I never got around to doing it. Xevia's girly giggle appeases my fears.

"He wants to talk with all of us-can I open your door?" she starts pushing it open anyway.

"No, get back!" I protest, frantically getting my clothes out of the closet.

"Oh my-I'm so sorry Seth. I didn't you were naked in there, I just don't like having a discussion through a door. It reminds me of when my sister would try to talk me through closed doors and I would ignore her because she knew that I didn't like that and I was trying to teach her a lesson. Oh well, she never learned anyway. Are you dressed now?"

"You can come in now." Even though I give her permission, she slowly peeps her head into my room covering her eyes with her hand. "Xevia, it's good." She uncovers her eyes and fully opens the door. "Are dresses appropriate for our mission Xevia?"

"I asked Master the same thing and he insisted I wear it. Do you…like it?" she asks sheepishly with a blushing face. It was a black see-through dress that reached down to her ankles embedded with gold sparkles. To keep her body hidden, she wears snug, deep violet under garments, but I notice her shoulder bands have an abstract, vertigo-inducing design on it.

"It looks good on you," I admit once I take my eyes of the shoulder bands and gaze at her chest, her breasts prominent and developed. Thinking about them makes me feel so good when I've got nothing to do-thinking about her naked is really stimulating too. She is pleased at the compliment, oblivious to me ogling her chest. Then I remember why she came here in the first place, "What did you want to tell me?"

"Master is waiting for us downstairs, we should head there now," explains Xevia as I slip into my sneakers. Together we leave my bedroom and descend the steps. "Do you know where Nate is?"

"No, he's been gone for a while now." Her shaped eyebrow twitches, ready to jump off her face. "Is there something wrong?"

"No no, I was just wondering about where he was that's all." She whispers, "did you get my present?" Shadow's Kiss, how could I leave it upstairs? Xevia distracted me, I was going to put in my pocket and return it to Master without Xevia or Master knowing. It would probably make her feel-wait, does Master know? Is that what this meeting is about?

"Yes I did."

"Did you like it?" her face is drained of any color as she anxiously waits for my answer.

"Yes, thank you for the wonderful gift," I fib and feign a convincing grin, bringing color to her peachy face again.

"Nate said you would like it," she says softly.

"Nate?"

"No, what I mean-I'll talk to you later." We reach the meeting room and meet with Master, sitting at the head off the discussion table. Sitting beside him is a person, very unclear on whether it's a boy or a girl, covered in a deep green and black suit of spandex armor.

"Students, please have a seat, there is something rather devious going on here and I'm about to exploit it," he says in an unpleasant tone. His black pupils shrink in his blue sclera, confirming his crossness. Xevia and I sit next to each other, petrified in our seats; she nearly gasps when Master's pupil contracted. "I am missing precious items from my chamber when I told you two and Nate not to go in there."

"Wh-what's missing?" sputters Xevia. Stupid girl doesn't know when to keep her mouth shut. He usually lightens his tone with Xevia but it's harsher than before.

"Shadow's Kiss and the Keyblade of People's Hearts-two things I was going give to Seth-"

"Are you accusing me of something?" I preemptively assume. I do a horrible job at hiding my guilt-wait, what do I have to be guilty about? Xevia's the one who took Shadow's Kiss and I have no idea what happened to the black Keyblade.

"In fact I am."

"Well I didn't take your-"

"I'm so sorry Master, please don't take it out on Seth, it was me," cries Xevia, slamming her head on the table and covering it. "Nate told me you wanted Seth to have Shadow's Kiss and that you wouldn't give it to him until we planned on attacking one of the worlds on our own and-and he said that you would want Seth to have it early so that none of us gets jealous when you give it to him so I-I-I took it and gave it to Seth so-so that he'll li-eep!" her wails finally cease after three minutes of sputtering and sniffles. She wipes her tears on her arms and has the courage to finally look directly into Master's eyes. Master taps the table habitually and makes no other sound until I speak up. "Where's Nate?"

Master looks up at me, his pupils still tiny. "Nate is dead." Xevia gasps loudly, covering her mouth with her hands and shaking her head in disbelief. "He didn't die by my hand we can confirm that. He was killed by someone I barely remember, Luxeroh."

"Who's Luxeroh?" I ask urgently, having an innuendo that it's got something to do with Mia.

"I met Mia's older brother once a long time ago. Didn't seem capable of harming a fly but he murdered Nate and re-possessed the Keyblade of People's Hearts."

"Mia had a brother?" I wonder aloud earnestly. She failed to mention him to me, she always told me that she was an only child, I guess she had her fair share of secrets. It's either she didn't want anyone to know or she had no idea herself. "So we have to go after him."

"That would be in vain, for he died that same day Nate did, the shadows told me."

"What kind of story is this?"

"Nate was going to turn against us by taking Mia's heart and using its power and the Keyblade's to defeat us all. But Mia's brother was the vessel to protect that from happening and he defeated Nate and freed his sister heart, saving her but in the end sacrificing himself and destroying the dark Keyblade with his pure heart."

"But that can't be," insists Xevia, half composed. "Nate couldn't have survived in World 75 long enough to take Mia, because the Light from that world could have been too much for him."

"He used Shadow's Kiss," says Master matter-of-factly. When Xevia shakes her head, her dark auburn hair bounces.

"That's impossible, I gave it to-oh! He said he would give it you Seth so how did he take it from you again?"

"He must have kept the real one and given me a fake one, that little snake," I bang my hand on the table, violently shaking it. "So Shadow's Kiss is gone so we can't go to World 75 and the Keyblade has been destroyed." What gets me the most is that he told me what he was going to do. _I'm going to use the Keyblade to extract her heart and make it mine to control_, that bastard told me. He was confident enough to know he was going to get away with it and that I wouldn't do a thing because-I don't want to think about it. Even when he's dead, he's still playing with my feelings with Mia. I'm glad that bastard is gone.

"Not all hope is lost, for a new Keyblade can be crafted from a unique heart," assures Master as his pupils slowly dilate to their normal size. "We must find her and make a new weapon from her heart and that is where _he _comes in."

"He?" Xevia and I ask.

"This," he raises his hand to the silent, covered person in the black helmet. "He is Gineam and he will replace the traitorous Nate on your upcoming mission."

"Nice to meet you Gineam, my name is Xevia," she warmly accepts the new worker. The silent person only opens and closes his hands. "Don't be shy."

"He's shy but a very powerful fighter. Be kind and welcome him to our family. Xevia you can show him to his room upstairs and I need to talk to Seth down here." The covered person doesn't say word as he rises from his seat and follows Xevia out of the room wordlessly, his flexible armor not making a sound. Xevia is too talkative for this "Gineam" and there's something shady about him I can't put my thumb on. Honestly I'm scared to see him on the battlefield. "Seth why didn't you return Shadow's Kiss?"

"What're you talking about you? Nate gave me a fake, why would you I give you the fake?"

"Before you knew it was a fake, why didn't you bring it back to me like a loyal student would have?"

"I will always be loyal to you Master!" I insist. It started with a taste of what true power was and it burgeoned the longer I stayed in servitude to Master. If I stayed with Mia in that estranged house I wouldn't have grown stronger-loyalty to the right people always counts. Master said that to me the first time I encountered him in Moonlight Town. "I just figured I could go back to that world and fight with Mia and start the plan early."

"I appreciate your alacrity to move forward Seth but you have to tell me these things. Be as open as you were with Mia about these things," he says with a patronizing smile. "Promise."

"I promise."

"Good, you may leave now."

"Can I at least ask what's wrong with our new recruit?"

"Gineam? There is nothing wrong with him," replies Master incredulously. "He's quiet but productive."

"What world is he from?"

"World 9, close to the Darkness."

"There's something-I don't know, familiar about him. Forgive me for speaking so casually but I have a weird feeling about him."

"I'll talk to you about this soon my pupil. In some way, you already know him."

J.G.P.


	2. Chapter 2

"Hm." It's pretty warm today and the sun is finally out. I guess I don't have to wear my winter stuff anymore but I really like the outfit; I've never worn long pants and vests in my life since I used to live on an island. All I really need to do is roll my pants up a little bit and not wear the vest anymore and I should be good. In the living room, I go to open a window and sit back on the sofa. I finish the last of the turkey sandwich and drink the rest of the orange juice. One knock on my door is enough to rattle the peace in the house. I head to the door and answer and not a surprise, it's Don at the door. "Good morning."

"Get your shoes on," he orders, glancing down at my bare feet. "We need to get Chaos Emeralds." Does he think I'm just going to forget about that incident from before, with the disappearing man and me waking up in another world? Before that incident, the last time I had seen Don was in a cave as I pleaded with him to stop the end of this world. He has nothing to say about that either?

"I will-when you tell me what happened the other day," I reply sternly, folding my arms.

"I'm not in the mood for negotiations," warns Don with his rings shining as brightly as the sun on his jacket. I quickly turn away and bend down to pick up the flats I came to Metropolis with. Quickly I slip them on and focus on the location of the far away gems. What makes them so important to him? Never mind that, I need to concentrate. I groan quietly and sigh when nothing happens.

"I can't do it looking at you-your rings I mean," I turn away from him to hide my blushing face. I thought that by now he would be friendlier to me but it's just the same as when he first met me. He hasn't said anything so maybe he's not offended, I can't tell with Don. With a clear head now I can focus one-two of them actually but fortunately in the same place. "I'm ready."

We arrived in a city made of sand. It looks abandoned, like most of the worlds I visit when I go on my missions. Whether the Heartless took over this place or people are inside at this time of night, this place is not safe. We should retrieve the Chaos Emeralds as fast as we can and quickly get out of here. But does Don care about these things I notice? I know he's smart, observant, and powerful but he doesn't seem to care for anything besides Chaos Emeralds. Well I'm not saying he doesn't-I don't what I'm thinking! I'm sure he cares about stuff but he _really_ doesn't care-I wish I could be a little more like him. That man can scare anybody just by looking at him and is so strong too, I'm sure if I was like him, Seth wouldn't want to hurt me and that thief that got away from me would be running for the hills. I'm sure I can be like him, I just have to lose my conscience and be angry all the time. That was mean, he does have a conscience but that doesn't mean he listens to it all the time.

With Don leading, we reach the outskirts of the city of sand, the top of my feet burning from the hot sand. The breeze picks up, sending a light whirlwind of sand towards us and the city far behind us. I spit everywhere to get the salty taste out of my mouth and scratch my itchy scalp excessively. "You're exaggerating, it's a little sand," says Don, making me look like an idiot.

"Ouch, ow, ouch." So much sand got into my flats that I feel as though I'm walking on fire stones like the professional stone steppers who work on Moonlight Beach. This is almost unbearable, I can't keep walking like this. I glance at Don's sneakers enviously; I should have just worn the boots I wore all winter.

"Climb up that tree to save your feet and wait for me," orders Don inconsiderately. I would've done that in a heartbeat if I wasn't so terrified of heights; I've been afraid ever since I was a little girl. That's why I never stand outside the balcony at my temporary home. No, I shouldn't ever call that world home, it would be like saying that it was my new home and it's not- "what're you still standing around for? Your feet don't they?"

"I can't climb it," I say, probably sounding like a lazy complaint to him. Folding my arms across my chest, I add, "please don't try forcing me-" The next thing I know, I'm sitting up on the first branch of the low-hanging tree. After rudely shoving me up there and forcing me to climb, he travels down the sand slope, leaving me alone up in the tree. I grip the upper branches nervously and try to ignore the vertigo feeling slowly suffocating me. Groaning from the abrupt surges of pain in my chest area, breasts and lungs, it takes willpower not to tip over and fall. My breathing accelerates and when I think I've calmed down, I realize my own air is making me choke silently. If Don doesn't get me out of this tree soon he's going to find me dead in the sand. How much longer can I stay up here-if I don't get down, something's going to push me, _someone's_ going to push me. The sound of an engine roars from a couple of feet away but that doesn't matter to me. My heart is about to fall from my chest and there's nothing I can do about it unless I get down from this dang tree already!

Don's not coming-he abandoned me here. Because I ask too many question and because I'm so feeble and because I'm annoying, he left me up here to die. Why do I try to be nice to everyone when all they do is abandon me? A twinge of pain erupts in my chest and it's nothing like the nagging pain that I had this morning-I nearly tip over. "I leave you up there and this is what happens?" Don's harsh tone reminds me that I'm not alone. I swallow hard and manage to yell.

"Get me down from here please!" he looks up at me in an astonished manner as I blink back tears. Whatever "respect" he has for me now will be lost if he sees me sob like a little baby. "Get me down!"

"Stop screaming," he hisses and holds his arms out. "Just jump."

_Just jump_ he said. Just jump-it's not so hard is it? To simply fly for a second. I used to want to fly when I was little but what happened-ow, my head is pounding furiously all of a sudden. Closing my teary eyes, I slide off and then I'm roughly caught by Don's hand, holding me up by the back of my shirt as if holding a net of fish. He plops me down and I reopen my eyes to see that he found an abandoned jeep in the middle of this hot desert. Thank goodness it's nighttime and this didn't all happen while the scorching sun is out. "Get in the jeep and brace yourself. I found some Heartless up ahead."

"Okay," I reply, calmer than earlier. I get in on the passenger side and buckle up, embarrassed out of my mind about my freak out "How did you find this?" He disregards my question and with the keys, he turns the engine on. His foot slams on the gas and the sand kicks up everywhere as we jolt forward. If I had hair like my mom's, it would be fluttering in the wind, as if part of the sea was flying through the breeze, but I have to make do with the choppy hair that I have. My hair was long at some point but I only remember it being past my shoulders when I was really young. As I wipe the rest of the trapped tears away without Don being 100% aware, I nervously steal a glance at him. His eyes are on the road, his nearly-black undershirt fluttering around; his sideburns have been shaved and now travel down to his newly-cut goatee. Noticing me staring, he glances at me and I quickly turn away, thinking about when he disappeared after that whole Chaos Emerald episode after Seth left me-I wonder what he wants to do with the Chaos Emeralds now. "What the hell's…"

"What?" I can't hear him in between the loud engine and the buffeting, salty-tasting wind in my face.

"-the hell's wrong with you?" he repeats, making a swift turn that almost bangs the side of my head on the door. Is he referring to my freak out on the tree? He is, he won't just forget that but he wants me to forget about what happened a few days ago. All I can remember is almost fighting with Nate and then I wake up to find some man dying next to me.

"I don't like heights," I shout over the noise. "I never did." He probably thinks it's stupid to even be afraid of anything. Don's a tough guy and nothing ever would scare him. I want to be a little like him, friendless so that I don't ever feel heartache, and fearless so I could jump off mountains boldly. "You never told me what happened when I woke up," I bring that up again, anticipating his rebuke.

He puts his hand on his hair, stroking down his russet, short stubs reaching down to the back of his neck. For a second, he looks angry and ready to shut me down with something hurtful, but the urge dies and he stares sternly at the sandy dunes. I guess I'm never getting an answer to that question-he's never going to tell me no matter how many times I bring it up. Does it have to do with that man that disappeared after I woke up? I bounce in my seat as we plummet down a steep sand dune; sand hits the windshield and is blown off by the wind. Clutching the sides of the seat for dear life, Don's hard voice cuts through the chaos softly, "I'll tell you something not a lot of people know about me and you pretend what you saw the other day never happened, deal?"

Should I just drop it? No, somebody died! Some man died that day and I have the feeling that it was for me. That isn't fair, I have a right to know, I should say to him. But that man is gone so I can't ask him and Don's too stubborn to answer my question, leaving me without a real choice. "Deal!"

"Listen once because I'm only saying it once," he shouts sharply but continues so softly I have to lean over close to him to hear his secret. "I used to have a friend named Angelica when I was young. She was-hmm, the one person in the world who ever really mattered to me. She was sick with an illness that's been outdated already and it was contagious at the time. We played together and did many things together the months she lived with me, I was immune. I used to live in seclusion in the middle of Graham, the continent we're living on. One day I did something stupid to impress her and nearly died if I didn't think of her to help me wake up. Soon after I woke up and I thought everything was peaceful again, the government wanted to eradicate the both of us. They saw me and Angelica as threats even though we didn't do anything and they chased us down-then we were trapped and one of soldiers caught us and she had only two bullets left. I told her she should use both of them on me because it would be harder to kill me, so she shot me down, barely missing my heart. I was on the floor when the gun went off and the bullet struck Angelica, who slowly died next to me. I knew I could've saved her if I got up in time and jumped in front of the bullet. She was taken away from me when I could've died in her stead." When Don finishes his story, he snorts and turns to me, his scorching dark red eyes burning my insides, the irritating sand meaning nothing to me anymore. "You would like that wouldn't you? You would've liked me to die so that you wouldn't have to be here suffering. _Me too_."

"I never said that," I protest genuinely but he disregards it and returns his attention to the sandy dunes. "And it wasn't your fault."

"Yeah."

"Really!"

"Hush, I hear something." In front of us, a swamp of Darkness looms like an oasis. But within the liquid Darkness-yellow eyes protruding from the puddles-are two small colorful lights that are unmistakable Chaos Emeralds. But how can I think of them after hearing this story from Don? He's carrying guilt with him-he lost someone really important to him and couldn't do anything to save her. That's why he's so bitter and mean and angry all the time, the feeling of him being unable protect his friend is eating him alive. Is that why he doesn't have any friends and is grouchy all the time? I shouldn't think of him that way anymore-Angelica, the girl he mentioned when I told him to preserve this world months ago, was a part of him, the way Seth was a part of me, and it hurts when a part of your heart leaves you.

' ' '

He brings me back to the house, not saying a word about Angelica or the Chaos Emeralds we had to pull out of the liquid Darkness, almost giving birth to Heartless. I want to say some consoling words to him but this happened years ago, and he's almost an adult now, what are my words going to do for him? How many times has he heard "I'm sorry" and "my condolences"? But I have to say something to him. "I'm really sorry about what happened to your friend."

He uncomfortably folds his arms, glaring at his sneakers, holding the pink and purple Chaos Emeralds in his hands. "Whatever."

"'Whatever?' That's all you have to say about what happened? 'Whatever'?" He shrugs his shoulders and turns away coldly. That was his friend, how can he just "whatever" her like that? Maybe they-no, don't think that. He did care about her, I believe that much. "Sorry, I shouldn't have said that so harshly." He starts walking away but as he leaves, his hands clench the Chaos Emeralds shakily. I cover my eyes with my hands and sigh sadly, knowing that I only infuriated him as I always do. It's hard to imagine Don treating anyone kindly, let alone a little girl like Angelica.

* * *

How dare she assume I don't care about Angelica after all I said about her. I should go back there and tell her about what happened to her those couple of days and about Luke, that's what I_ should_ do. I only told her that because she wouldn't stop asking about Luke-no, that's not why. She is an easy person to talk to, like Luke, her emerald eyes full of concern and warm care like Luke's were. Do I break the promise I made to Luke? Before I can utter her name, my watch vibrates. "Professor, I've located the two Chaos Emeralds," I immediately tell her, the question still hanging heavy in my mind.

"Wonderful work Don. But there's something we have to discuss when you get back here. It's about the girl, Mia, I'm going to be needing her," replies Professor enthusiastically. A small part of me is dreading this.

J.G.P.

**A fairly simple story but it gives some insight on Don and Mia's lives so tell me what you think!**


End file.
